Blood Podcast

Review Series on Clonal Tracking in Hematopoiesis 04.06.2026 30min

In this Review series episode, Blood associate editor Dr. Diane Krause interviews contributing authors from the Review Series on Clonal tracking in Hematopoiesis published in volume 147 issue 23 of Blood. Dr. Alejo E. Rodriguez-Fraticelli speaks to the development of his paper, "Clonal tracing of blood stem cells across mouse and human lifespans”, which provides a detailed overview of the experimental approaches that make clonal analysis possible, and which approaches are most appropriate to use to address specific questions. Dr. Shalin H. Naik speaks about how different clonal tracking approaches have been used to address the central question of clonal fate specification of stem and progenitor cells to specific lineages in “The evolution of hematopoietic models through a clonal lens”. Finally, Dr. Federico Gaiti speaks about “Methylation-based lineage tracing in cancer”, which takes these ideas into the context of cancer, focusing on how DNA methylation can be used to reconstruct clonal relationships.

New Approaches: Marstacimab Therapy and HLH Biomarkers 28.05.2026 17min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Drs. Johnny Mahlangu and Joseph Rocco on their articles published in volume 147 issue 9 of Blood. Dr. Mahlangu discusses study details and next steps from "Efficacy and safety of marstacimab prophylaxis in hemophilia A/B with inhibitors: results from the phase 3 BASIS trial" which shows that bleeding was reduced by 93% with subcutaneous marstacimab. Dr. Rocco shares the development behind "CXCL9 as a novel prognostic marker to identify high-risk adults with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis", and the insights gained from measuring a new surrogate marker of IFN-γ activity predicting severity and mortality.

Review Series on Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) 21.05.2026 16min

In this episode, Blood deputy editor Dr. Helen Heslop interviews contributing authors from the Blood review series on hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Drs. Nancy Berliner and Joanne Hsu join to provide insight on their paper, “Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in adults” discussing the importance of prompt diagnosis and treatment in this high-mortality disorder, and highlight emerging agents designed to modulate disease progression. Drs. Carl Allen and Bethany Verkamp reimagine diagnostic criteria through a threshold model in “Pediatric hemophagocytic lyphohistiocytosis: current conceptualization, diagnosis, and treatment”, in order to provide individualized therapies with the goal of addressing the combined influence of genetic susceptibility and environmental triggers.

IBD augmentation of CHIP and Platelet mTOR's impact on Cerebral Malaria 14.05.2026 20min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews Drs. Reuben Kapur and Robert Campbell on their latest articles published in Blood. This episode highlights two groundbreaking studies exploring how inflammation drives serious blood and immune-related diseases. In the first interview, Dr. Kapur discusses how inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can both promote and worsen clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), with large-scale human data and mouse models identifying REF1 as a key mediator and potential therapeutic target. The second segment features Dr. Campbell, who explains how heme released during malaria infection activates platelet mTOR signaling, intensifying cerebral malaria and suggesting new avenues for platelet-targeted treatments. Together, the conversations reveal how inflammatory pathways and immune signaling contribute to disease progression while opening the door to novel precision therapies.

Long-term efficacy and safety of betibeglogene autotemcel for β-thalassemia 07.05.2026 13min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Dr. Alexis Thompson, former ASH president, on her latest article published in Blood. Dr. Thompson discusses "Long-term efficacy and safety results of betibeglogene autotemcel gene therapy for transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia." She explains transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia (TDT) requires rigorous, lifelong transfusion therapy and iron chelation to manage iron overload. Dr. Kwiatkowski and colleagues discuss the long-term efficacy and safety of this gene therapy in 63 patients with TDT, documenting sustained transfusion independence for up to 10 years and a safety profile consistent with that of myeloablative autologous transplantation.

Effects of ZNF467 on HSPC fitness and Promotion of Follicular Lymphoma via DC-SIGN 30.04.2026 22min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Drs. Francesco Forconi and Bin Guo on their latest articles published in Blood. Dr. Guo shares insights from "Nucleoplasmic ZNF467 condensates boost hematopoietic stem cell engraftment via ICAM1-mediated mechanical reprogramming". The findings establish biomechanical regulation as an important determinant of stem cell identity and reveal new strategies for engineering stem cells with enhanced regenerative capacity. Then, Dr. Forconi discusses "DC-SIGN binding to the surface immunoglobulin oligomannose-type glycans promotes follicular lymphoma cell adhesion and survival". Persistent, low-level BCR engagement by DC-SIGN enables FL tissue retention and survival while avoiding the deleterious proapoptotic consequences of stronger, conventional antigen-driven BCR signaling. These findings help explain how FL cells exploit their microenvironmental niche.

Pathophysiology of ANKRD26-related thrombocytopenia and B-ALL recurrence after blinatumomab 23.04.2026 19min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews Drs. Shengwen Calvin Li and Hrishi Krishna Srinagesh on their latest articles published in Blood. Dr. Li discusses "Single-cell profiling of ANKRD26 thrombocytopenia reveals progenitor expansion and polyploid apoptosis via JUNB-p21". The study identifies reproducible abnormalities in progenitor expansion and increased apoptosis of polyploid megakaryocytes, and they propose a novel mechanism in which centrosomal over-expression of ANKRD26 drives polyploid megakaryocyte apoptosis through JUNB-mediated induction of p21 transcription. Dr. Srinagesh discusses "Blinatumomab nonresponse correlates with poor survival after brexucabtagene autoleucel in B-cell ALL" in which data collected by the Real-World Outcomes Collaborative of CAR-T in Adult ALL consortium showed that prior nonresponse to blinatumomab was associated with inferior survival after brexucabtagene in comparison to blinatumomab-naïve patients. Early CAR-T responses were uniformly high regardless of prior exposure or response. This highlights that resistance to blinatumomab may identify patients at higher risk of post–CAR T relapse despite excellent initial responses.

Real-world availability of CAR T-cell therapies 16.04.2026 9min

In this week's episode, Blood podcast editor Laurie Sehn interviews Drs. Edward Cliff on his latest research published in volume 147 issue 14 of Blood. Dr. Cliff discusses "Global access to commercial CAR T-cell therapies: a cross-sectional study of health technology assessment across the G20 countries" which maps the mismatch between innovation and implementation across high-income and selected-upper-middle-income countries for US Food and Drug Administration–approved products and indications.

Consequences of p53 loss and Gastrin for aGVHD of the Stomach 09.04.2026 20min

In this week's episode, Blood podcast editor Dr. James Griffin interviews authors Drs. Steffen Boettcher and Robert Zeiser on their recent publications in Blood. Dr. Boettcher discusses "Bone marrow failure, somatic rescue by p53 inactivation, and enhanced leukemogenesis in germ line ERCC6L2 disease", which provides insights to disease evolution by demonstrating that p53 loss can rescue BMF phenotypes caused by biallelic mutations in ERCC6L2, but at the cost of profound genome instability, increasing DNA damage and leading to the onset of aggressive erythroid leukemia. Dr. Zeiser discusses "Gastrin for the treatment of acute graft-versus-host-disease of the stomach", which delineates the protective role of gastrin in aGVHD of the stomach in mice and patients and provides a rationale for therapeutic use of pentagastrin in a clinical trial for patients with aGVHD.

Review Series on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms 02.04.2026 26min

In this episode, Blood Associate Editor Dr. Jason Gotlib discusses the Review Series "The New Wave of Targeted Therapeutics for MPN’s", with authors Drs. Stefan Constantinescu, Ann Mullally, and Marina Kremyanskaya. This Review Series covers 3 areas where exciting advances are occurring. Dr. Constantinescu discusses “Next-generation JAK inhibitors in the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms” which describes how new ways to switch off JAK signaling are delivering a suite of new small-molecule drugs with potential. Dr. Mullally discusses “Novel strategies targeting mutant calreticulin in essential thrombocythemia and myelofibrosis” which reviews the biology of calreticulin mutations in myelofibrosis and ET and how multiple different modalities can be brought to bear against this mutant surface protein, including monoclonal antibodies, bispecific T-cell engagers, and cellular and vaccine therapies. Dr. Kremyanskaya discusses “Modulators of the hepcidin pathway in polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis” which outlines the major recent progress being made in controlling excessive erythropoiesis through pharmacological modulation of iron metabolism.

CH in children with SCD and Asciminib for CML in the ASC4FIRST trial 26.03.2026 13min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Drs. Alexander Bick and Jorge Cortes on their latest papers published in Blood. Dr. Cortes, the current EIC of Blood Global Hematology discusses "Asciminib Demonstrates Superior Efficacy and Safety in Newly Diagnosed Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in the ASC4FIRST Trial" wherein the planned secondary analysis showed a further efficacy advantage and a consistently favorable safety profile for asciminib relative to investigator-selected TKIs, especially second-generation TKIs. Dr. Bick discusses "Increased prevalence of clonal hematopoiesis in children with sickle cell disease" where targeted sequencing for CH mutations in 2318 children with SCD and 2957 controls and found that children with SCD have a higher prevalence of CH, and majority of CH cases identified were very small “micro-CH” clones, more work is needed to define the clinical significance of these clones.

Emerging Mechanisms: Neutrophils and Immune thrombocytopenia from ICI 19.03.2026 19min

In this week's episode of the Blood podcast, editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Drs. Christian Gorzelanny and Rebecca Leaf on their latest articles published in this week's issue of Blood. Dr. Gorzelanny discusses compelling evidence for a new mechanism that amplifies their proinflammatory actions in "Lipid nanotubes unmask neutrophils for complement attack", demonstrating the pathological role of this process in a range of inflammatory disorders in order to stimulate intense study of how to regulate nanotube formation for therapeutic benefit. In "Immune thrombocytopenia in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors" Dr. Leaf and colleagues define the incidence, clinical features, and outcomes of ICI-induced immune thrombocytopenia. Showing that ICI-induced immune thrombocytopenia is associated with excess mortality, these data should provide an impetus to greater recognition and to protocolization of effective interventions.

Hepcidin-DMT1 interaction and GPRC5D-targeting bispecific antibody for MM 12.03.2026 15min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews authors Drs. Marion Falabrègue and Ajai Chari on their papers published in volume 146 issue 24 of Blood. The work of Dr. Falabrègue and colleagues in "Intestinal hepcidin overexpression promotes iron deficiency anemia and counteracts iron overload via DMT1 downregulation" indicates that iron absorption from the apical surface of enterocytes can be modulated through manipulation of the hepcidin-DMT1 interaction, opening new avenues for research and therapeutic manipulation. "Talquetamab plus daratumumab in multiple myeloma" features a phase 1b/2 trial of 65 heavily pretreated patients with MM, where Chari et al combined daratumumab and talquetamab, a GPRC5D-targeting bispecific antibody, reporting depletion of CD38-expressing regulatory T cells following daratumumab and impressive efficacy, with an 80% overall (57% complete) response rate and median progression-free survival of 23.3 months. This regimen is now being evaluated in a phase 3 trial.

PETAL Consortium Survival Prognosticators and How Inflammation Impacts Hematopoiesis 05.03.2026 13min

In this week's episode, Blood associate editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Drs. Mark Sorial and Emmanuelle Passegue on their articles published in volume 147 issue 7 of Blood. Dr. Sorial discusses "Early time to relapse as a survival prognosticator in nodal mature T-cell lymphomas: results from the PETAL consortium" where he and his team evaluated the prognostic significance of early relapse in a large retrospective cohort. They report a time to relapse of <12 months as a strong predictive factor independent of the prognostic index for T-cell lymphoma and histology, with results validated in 2 independent cohorts. Dr. Emmanuelle Passegue discusses "Inflammation perturbs hematopoiesis by remodeling specific compartments of the bone marrow niche". Using a combination of single-cell RNA sequencing profiling and flow cytometry, the team characterized the bone marrow niche compartments in mice subjected to inflammation. They show that inter-feron-mediated inflammation preferentially targets central marrow leptin receptor–expressing mesenchymal cells, triggering cytokine release that affects monocyte dynamics in the bone marrow microenvironment.

Review Series on the Structural Underpinnings of Hemostatic Plugs and Thrombotic Occulsions 26.02.2026 28min

This review series focuses on recent advances in resolving macro and molecular structures that have driven the field of occlusive thrombus structure and function forward. Covering multiple contributions to thrombosis, eg, platelets, factor XIII, and the contact system, the series also looks to put this new knowledge into the context of future advances in diagnostic and therapeutic tools to enhance normal hemostasis while preventing and treating unwanted thrombosis. Blood Associate Editor, Dr. Thomas Ortel discusses this series with Drs. Alisa Wolberg, Jonas Emsley, and John Weisel, who all contributed to articles in the Review Series on the Structural Underpinnings of Hemostatic Plugs and Thrombotic Occulsions which can be found in volume 146, issue 12 of Blood.

VTE Risk Model in Children and a Novel Tri-specific T-cell-engager for MM 19.02.2026 17min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews authors Drs. Julie Jaffray and Ulrike Philippar on their latest articles published in Blood. Dr. Jaffray discusses her CME article, "Multisite validation of a venous thrombosis risk model in critically ill children through the CHAT Consortium", identifying patients with risks as high as 17% and taking research one step closer to the goal of personalized thromboprophylaxis for safe and effective care of high-risk children. Dr. Philippar discusses her article "Ramantamig (JNJ-79635322), a novel T-cell-engaging trispecific antibody targeting BCMA, GPRC5D, and CD3, in multiple myeloma models", where the extensive in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies with cell lines and patient samples indicate strong potential for this agent to have efficacy against MM expressing either or both of these antigens.

CAR-iNKT cell immunotherapy and Jagged2/Notch regulation of HSC 12.02.2026 20min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews authors Drs. Anastasios Karadimitris and Maria Carolina Florian on their papers published in Volume 147 Issue 2 of Blood. Dr. Karadimitris' paper "Off-the-shelf dual CAR-iNKT cell immunotherapy eradicates medullary and leptomeningeal high-risk KMT2A-rearranged leukemia", discusses the success of bispecific CAR-iNKT cells targeting CD19 and CD133 in pre-clinical models, prompting the clinical development of this class of product. Dr. Florian's paper, "A Notch trans-activation to cis-inhibition switch underlies hematopoietic stem cell aging" proposes that the Jagged2/Notch interaction is a key regulator of hematopoietic stem cell divisional symmetry during aging and offers insights that may inform strategies to restore regenerative function in aged hematopoiesis.

Biologic Insights and Clinical Trial Design for AML 05.02.2026 22min

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Drs. Paresh Vyas and Andrew Hantel on their research published in this week's issue of Blood. Dr. Vyas discusses his paper, "Rapid clonal selection within early hematopoietic cell compartments presages outcome to ivosidenib combination therapy", which provided new insights as to when and how to intervene to circumvent resistance to AML remission. Dr. Hantel will speak about his paper, "Impact of Modernizing Eligibility Criteria on Enrollment and Representation in AML Clinical Trials". For a real-world cohort of more than 2200 patients with AML, they reported that modernized, safety-based criteria could nearly double trial eligibility, with especially pronounced gains among historically underserved groups. Both studies highlight how biologic insight and thoughtful trial design can drive more effective, inclusive advances in AML treatment and research.

How I Treat Series on Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia 29.01.2026 26min

In this week's episode, Blood Associate editor Dr. Hervé Dombret interviews authors Drs. Sarah K. Tasian and David T. Teachey on their contributions to the How I Treat Series on acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Dr. Tasian's paper, “How I treat Philadelphia chromosome-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children, adolescents, and young adults” discusses the different classes of Ph-like ALL and reviews the recent trials investigating TKIs and immunotherapy specifically for this high-risk patient population. Dr. Teachey's paper, “How I treat ETP-ALL in children”, discusses the best current and emerging therapies that may be used in patients with ETP ALL, including nelarabine and other new agents, immunotherapy, and allogeneic HSCT.See the full How I Treat series in volume 145 issue 1 of Blood.

How I Treat Series on the 25th anniversary of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia 22.01.2026 34min

In this week's episode, Blood Associate Editor, Dr. Jason Gotlib leads a discussion about the How I Treat Series commemorating the 25th anniversary of the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in CML, featuring Drs. Neil Shah, Simona Soverini, Elisabetta Abruzzese, and Yves Chalandon. The introduction of TKIs revolutionized patient outcomes in CML, turning a poor prognosis—3 to 5 years life expectancy—to a manageable chronic condition. In this conversation, we'll cover management techniques for CML during relapse, pregnancy, and explore indications for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. See the full How I Treat series in Volume 147 issue 4 of Blood.